Who Is Rebecca's New Boyfriend?
by A Whisper Of Grace
Summary: Nathaniel does not like it when Rebecca brings her new boyfriend to work. At all. Based on the trailer for 3x12.


"This is my boyfriend, Trent. He is the love of my life."

Nathaniel stopped in his tracks, grateful that Rebecca's back was to him so she couldn't see how the air left his body so completely. _The love of my life._ The words echoed around his head, bouncing around him until they ended up in his stomach and made him feel nauseous.

He made it to his office without catching her eye, sat down at his desk for approximately four seconds before he stood and went over to rummage through the cupboard by the window. Even if she saw him, he had a perfectly good reason to be standing there, and what would she care anyway? What did he care? It's not like he'd just told her that he wanted to be with her. He hadn't _expected_ her to come running into his arms, but he'd hoped... he'd hoped so badly...

And here she was, two days later, bringing the _love of her life_ into the office.

 _Who the hell is Trent?_

It was irrational, right? He _knew_ that putting a stop to their... whatever it was had been hard for her - she might be confusing on her best day, but he knew her better than to think she'd just said so to placate him. So how could she have fallen _in love_ with someone else so quickly? He understood a rebound - wasn't that how he'd ended up with Mona in the first place? But this just made his skin crawl.

Was this her health thing? He peeked at them from the corner of his eye and then frowned when she put her hand on Trent's arm, throwing her head back and laughing. Was there something crazy around her eyes, or was it his imagination?

Was this dangerous behaviour? Or was it just his jealousy telling him so? Because he _was_ jealous - there was no other name for the vicious gnawing going on in his gut. Jealous, and more than a little heartbroken.

Because it was most likely just a relationship, right? Just a normal relationship. That she wanted to have with someone who wasn't him.

And that hurt.

It was becoming clearer and clearer that breaking up with Mona had been the right thing to do. Whether he could have Rebecca or not, he couldn't go home and pretend that this wasn't eating him alive. That wasn't fair – well, none of it had really been fair, but he that was the last thing on his mind right now.

She looked over towards him and he made his face blank, clearing his throat and turning away when he realised he was probably failing terribly. He moved back to his desk but then stayed on his feet, pressing his mouth into a hard line when Rebecca led Trent into the office, her hand in his. "Hi," he said shortly.

"Hey," she said, grinning, her voice cheerful, and he blinked in puzzlement when her eyes opened ridiculously wide. The overall effect was… confusing. "Trent, this is my co-worker, Nathaniel. Nathaniel, this is Trent. My boyfriend."

The way she said his name stirred a memory in him, and suddenly he was fairly confident that he'd heard her say it before. His heart sunk. Maybe it wasn't just a crazy whirlwind romance. Maybe they'd been dating for a while and she just hadn't told him about it. Maybe he was a part of the reason why she'd ended things between them.

Realising that he was frowning, he smoothed his expression into disinterest. "Trent," he said with a nod. He didn't hold his hand out to shake.

Neither did Trent, although he did smile at him broadly. "It's fantastic to meet you, Nathaniel," he said warmly. "I've heard _so_ much about you."

Never had he heard a threat spoken in a more cheerful voice.

Determinedly turning away from him, Nathaniel shelved his pride and looked at Rebecca searchingly. More than anything, he wanted to make sure she was all right. She had been looking between the two of them uncertainly, but then plastered that weird over-the-top smile on her face again when she saw him looking at her. "You're feeling well enough for a relationship?" he asked her, carefully ignoring Trent.

The smile slipped, her lips parting, but then she took a deep breath and met his eyes levelly. "I am," she said with determination.

"Oh, she is," Trent said, and Nathaniel felt like an ice shower had been poured over him when he turned to Rebecca and kissed her. Scowling, he lowered his gaze, walking over to sit behind his desk because he knew he'd do something stupid if he didn't put something between himself and the man who was suddenly all over the woman that he loved.

After a moment Rebecca cleared her throat loudly, but he kept his eyes on his laptop screen. "I just came in to get a case file," she said, and he heard a shuffling of papers on her desk. "I'm working from home today."

"Mhmm," he said noncommittally.

"Okay," she said after a few long moments, and when he finally looked up it was to see her walking from the office. As they left the room, Trent's arm came around her waist, and Rebecca stiffened for a moment before slowly relaxing again.

Frowning, Nathaniel watched them as they stopped halfway to the elevator, talking quietly together before Rebecca pecked him on the cheek and then headed in the direction of the bathroom. Trent stayed where he was, waving at her when she glanced back over her shoulder at him.

 _Something's not right here._

It wasn't just Rebecca's strange behaviour, though that was disorientating on its own. No, it was something about Trent himself, something in his memory that was just out of reach.

 _Oh my god._

Nathaniel let out his breath in a surprised wheeze. Trent, her ex-boyfriend? Trent, who'd brought that file to Josh and ruined her wedding?

A hand gripped at his heart and _squeezed_ , and he was out of his chair instantly, halfway across the office before he stopped to think. From Rebecca's now obviously warranted crazy eyes, it occurred to him that there might be more to this than what was on the surface, and he didn't want to do anything to contradict her. When the bathroom door opened and Paula stepped out, shooting a glare in Trent's direction, he walked quickly over to her, grabbing her arm and turning her so their backs were to Trent. "Do you know what's going on?" he asked her tensely, under his breath.

Relief and then regret flickered over her face. "She swore me to secrecy," she said, making it very clear that she thought that idea was stupid. He certainly thought it was stupid.

"Is she still in there?" he asked, tilting his head toward the bathroom. When she nodded, he ducked his head and lowered his voice further. "I need you to distract him," he told her, and to her credit she didn't even hesitate, turning around and walking right up to Trent, situating herself so that he had to turn away from the bathroom to look at her. Taking his opportunity, Nathaniel walked quickly over to the ladies bathroom and slipped inside.

Only one cubicle door was closed. "Rebecca?" he asked, his voice hushed and hurried.

"Nathaniel?! What are you – okay, well just give me a second, okay?"

He waited impatiently as the toilet flushed and the cubicle door opened, stepping up to her as soon as it did. She looked up at him, her mouth pressed together and her eyes worried, then stepped around him to go to the sink.

"Is he the Trent that -?"

"Shh," she said, her eyes boring into him warningly from the mirror. "Paula and I have it covered. It's going to be fine."

He let out his breath slowly, a whirlwind of emotions flowing through him as he realised he'd been right. He'd known from the start that something had been off about Trent, that his instant dislike of the man was more than jealousy. Their relationship wasn't real. He had no idea what that meant for him, but the relief that flooded him was palpable.

Guilt sickened him instantly. She was humouring Trent, and he didn't know why but he was sure it wasn't good.

"Are you ok?" he asked her quietly, his eyes flickering over her face desperately.

Her eyes were wide in the mirror as she dried off her hands. Slowly, she turned around and stepped closer to him, stopping just out of reach. His heart skipped when she smiled up at her tentatively. How strong was this woman, that she could be caught in whatever mess this was, and still find some gentleness for him? "Yeah," she said softly. "Yeah I am." Taking a deep breath, she took another half step towards him, tilting her head back to keep her eyes on his. "Nathaniel, about what I said before... I meant it. I'm ready. I just... I've got to deal with this first," she added, gesturing toward the door and rolling her eyes, then smiling at him with determination. "But I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" He couldn't believe he was questioning her but he needed her to be sure, needed to be sure she wanted him, needed to be sure that she meant what he thinks she means. He couldn't bear being wrong about her intentions.

When she closed the distance between them, taking his face between her hands and pulling him down to her, when she pressed her lips against his, she dissolved every single one of his doubts. He didn't wait, didn't hesitate, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close, a low sound coming from deep in his throat that was just pure, utter relief.

Just as he was about the deepen the kiss she pulled away, resting her forehead against his chest, and he sighed as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, the smell of her shampoo filling his senses and damn it, but he never wanted to let her go.

"I can't keep him waiting any longer," she said into his shirt, and he reluctantly dropped his arms. The smile she offered him was brilliant, although it faltered when she glanced back to the door.

"What can I do?" he asked her pleadingly.

"Oh, it's nothing," she said dismissively, waving her hand to accentuate her point, but he wasn't quite sure he believed her. "I can handle it. And I'll handle _you_ later," she added, moving away towards the door, and then turned around and came back to him immediately. "No, yep, that was weird. I'll call you," she said, kissing him firmly and all too quickly before disappearing from the bathroom.

He waited a minute or so to give her and _Trent_ time to leave before he left the bathroom, and was unsurprised to see Paula absent from her desk as well. Ignoring Darryl's questioning look, he made his way slowly back to his office and sat behind his desk.

There was no way he was getting any work done today. Pulling out his phone, he toyed with the idea of messaging Rebecca, but since he still didn't really have any clue what was going on with Trent, he didn't want to risk it. He messaged Paula instead.

 _I'm here for back up if you need it._

It was only a minute before his phone buzzed in reply.

 _Roger that._


End file.
